Player 1

Chapter 15 Level 1(13)
"Hey, Howie!" I said.Matthew Broderick's voice came from the headset.After saying this sentence, the warning disappears and the scoring prompt pops up at the top of the screen.

I racked my brain trying to recreate the lines of the movie in my head. "How is it?" The score jumped to two hundred.

"Very good," he replied.

I'm a little swayed.It's unbelievable that I'm actually in a movie.Halliday turned a 50-year-old movie into a real-time interactive game.God knows how long it took him.

Another warning appeared before my eyes: You're running late, David!hurry up!
I walked away from "Little Bee". "Hey, wanna play this?" I asked Howie.

"Of course," he grabbed the joystick, "thanks!"

Green guide arrows appear on the floor of the arcade.I walk along it, then suddenly turn around and go back to the arcade to get my notebook—that's what David does in the movie. The words "Action bonus" rolled in the field of vision, and the score increased by another hundred.

"Goodbye, David!" Howie yelled.

"Goodbye!" I replied.Another [-] points, so easy!
I ran out of the Twentieth Hall along the green arrow, crossed the suburban greenway, and then turned around an intersection. I saw the arrow pointing directly at a tall red brick building with "Snohomies High School" written on the door—— This is David's school, and it's where the next few scenes of the film take place.

As I ran, I thought, If the task of the next two hours is to play this "War Game", then everything is really very simple.Because I've unwittingly prepared myself for this - I'm far more familiar with "War Games" than I am with "Genius Strikes Back" and "Goodbye Life".

When I rushed into the empty hall of the school, another warning popped up: You are late for biology class!

I continued to run at full speed along the green arrow, which was blinking.Finally, I got to my classroom on the second floor, and through the window I could see that the class had started.The teacher was writing on the blackboard, and there was only one empty seat in the classroom—that was mine, of course.

It's just behind Ali Sidi.

I opened the door and walked in on tiptoe, but the teacher saw me right away:
"Ah, David! Nice to see you in class!"

Although it only took 15 minutes, I already understood the rules of the game and how to calculate the score, but finishing this movie was much more difficult than expected.All I had to do was not just memorize the lines, I had to do all the moves that Bradrick did in this movie.The time and place are also ideally precise.

For the first hour of the movie, I was on edge, trying to remember what the next line was going to be.Every time you say a wrong word or do not make the right action at the right time, a part of the score will be deducted, and a warning will flash at the same time.If you make two mistakes in a row, the ultimate warning will appear.I don't know what happens after the three-in-a-row error, but it's probably kicked out of the first door, or something worse.I'm personally not very curious about what exactly will happen.

Whenever I do seven actions or say seven lines correctly in a row, the system will give me a reward of "recharging the cue board".The next time I forget what to say or do, I can tap the cue board icon and the correct move or line will show up on my screen, much like how the system can be called for on many competitive shows.

During episodes where I'm not there, the simulation switches to a third-person view, and all I have to do is watch the show, like watching a game animation.At those times, I was able to relax until David was on camera again.During a break, I tried to play "War Game" in the Oasis network disk, and wanted to pull out a small window to watch it, but was blocked by the system.In fact, I couldn't open any web pages or folders inside the door, and when I wanted to find a video, I suddenly received a "no cheating" warning-it told me that if I try again, the game will end directly.

Fortunately, I didn't need extra help, I have accumulated a maximum of five tooltip icons.After relaxing, I don't feel like being in the middle of my favorite movie is such a torture.I even found out later that you get extra points for saying your lines in the tone of the movie.

Little did I know at the time, I was already a player in the first ever new interactive game.After the virtual movie in the first door was learned by GSS (not long after that), they immediately applied for a patent and bought the copyright of many old movies and old episodes, and then made them to bring players a real Feel the interactive game and call it a "synchronized movie".People like to be the protagonists in their favorite movies, and synchronous movies quickly became popular all over the world, bringing extremely considerable economic benefits.

Having said that, by the time I got to the final scene of the movie, I was so tired that I was on my stomach.I spent a whole day on the Internet and was extremely sleep deprived.The last thing the film does is get the WOPR (War Operations Response Program) supercomputer to play a game of tic-tac-toe against itself.Because every game simulated by WOPR ended in a draw, the AI ​​computer finally understood that fighting a thermonuclear war is also a "no winner" game, and finally gave up on sending all the US ICBMs to the Soviet Union. attempt.

I, David Letterman, a nerd in the suburbs of Seattle, have personally prevented the collapse of civilization.

Cheers erupted in NORAD, and I waited for the end credits to roll up.But suddenly, everyone around me disappeared, and I was left alone in the empty war room.The computer screen in front of me reflected my figure—not Matthew, but Parsifal.

Looking across the empty headquarters, I wondered what to do next. Suddenly, all the huge electronic screens in front of me were covered with rough spots of snowflakes, and four lines of words appeared on it:

The captain hides the emerald key
it is stored in the forgotten place
only after collecting trophies

Only then can we blow the whistle on the other side

I stared at these four lines silently, stood there for a while, then woke up suddenly, and hurriedly took a few pictures.At this moment, the brass door reappeared, embedded in the war room wall.The door was open, and Halliday's bedroom could be seen on the other side.

The first door was successfully passed.

I glanced back at the puzzle on the screen.It took me years to figure out what the first poem was referring to, and this puzzle about the Emerald Key doesn't seem any simpler than the previous ones.Although I still want to figure it out, I have to go, and this is not the time to solve the puzzle.

After jumping out the door and slamming it to the floor of Halliday's room, I turned to look at where I was just now, only to find that the door had disappeared and the Wargame poster had reappeared.

I checked my data and found that I had gained hundreds of thousands more experience, and my level jumped to twenty.And the scoreboard data has also changed:
high score list

1. Parsifal 110000
2. Artemis 9000
3. JDH 000000
4. JDH 000000
5. JDH 000000
6. JDH 000000
7. JDH 000000
8. JDH 000000
9. JDH 000000
10. JDH 000000
A full hundred thousand points more, and a brass door icon appeared next to my score.The media (and everyone else) have probably been staring at the scoreboard all night, and the whole world probably knows I'm through the first door.

But I was too tired to think about anything, just to close my eyes and rest.

I went downstairs into the kitchen, where the Hallidays' car keys were on a shelf next to the refrigerator.I grabbed it and walked outside into the sunlight. The ignition system in the 1982 Ford Thunderbird wasn't great, it took me two tries to finally get it going, and I backed up onto the road and headed for the bus stop.

The next thing is naturally logical: Teleport to Ludes, return to the school, put the new items I got—including weapons and equipment, etc.—in the locker, and then exit "Oasis".

It was already [-]:[-] in the morning when I took off my mask. I rubbed my bloodshot eyes, stared at the darkness around me, and tried to recall all the things that happened before.

It was terribly cold in the car, and I didn't turn on the electric heater because the battery was dying.I didn't want to recharge, and I didn't have the energy to climb back to my aunt's house.Fortunately, the sun is about to rise, and I can stay here without worrying about freezing to death.

I slid off the chair and tucked into my sleeping bag on the floor.At first I was still pondering the riddle about the Emerald Key, but soon I was swallowed by a strong sleepiness.

I am dreaming.In the dream, I stood alone in the middle of the yellow sand, surrounded by several different armies, the legion of the "Sixth Man" faced me, and the other directions were occupied by various hunter guilds, they held swords and guns, and A powerful magic weapon.

I looked down at my own body, not Parsifal's, but mine.My armor is nothing but scraps of paper, and the sword in my right hand is nothing more than a plastic toy.Instead, in his left hand, he held a huge glass egg that looked like the one that made Tom Cruise go crazy in Crazy Guys.For some reason, I knew it was the Halliday egg.

I just stood there naked, in full view.

Those enemies suddenly let out a shocking battle cry, and rushed towards me together.They grinned and their eyes were red.I know, they come for the Easter eggs.I know they are unstoppable.

I even know I'm dreaming and want to wake up before they kill me.But the nightmare haunted me.The eggs shattered in my hands, and I was cut into pieces.

0012
I slept for most of the day, and naturally I was dismissed from this day's class.

After finally waking up, I lay silently in my sleeping bag for a while, trying to convince myself that what happened yesterday was true.Honestly, I'm not sure if that's another dream.Finally, I decided to log into Oasis to make sure.

Almost every news article has a screenshot of the scoreboard, and I appear at the top of every screenshot.Artemis is still in second place, but her score has risen to one hundred and nine thousand, only one thousand points less than me, and she also has a brass door icon.

She succeeded.When I was asleep, she also unlocked the message on the brass key and arrived in Middleton, and completed the war game, only a few hours behind me.

I'm not surprised by this.

I browsed through a few sites and finally stopped at one of my favorite mainstream news sites.It is streaming expert commentary live.In the picture, two people are sitting in front of the scoreboard. On the left is a middle-aged bald man with the side note "Egg Nash, Hunter Expert", and on the right is the host.Nash is explaining to the latter what this score is all about.

"The one thousand points that this man named Parsifal is higher than Artemis is an additional reward for winning the brass key for the first time," Nash pointed to the scoreboard, "Then, Parsifal got another ten points this morning. Very much, there is also the icon of the brass door. Artemis also showed the same change a few hours later, which means that they all passed the first door."

"Is that the door that James Halliday mentioned in Anora's Invitation?" the host asked.

"very true."

"But, Mr. Nash, after five years, why would two people accomplish such a feat on the same day, only a few hours apart?"

"Well, I think there's only one explanation that makes sense. These two, Parsifal and Artemis, must be companions. They must all be members of a hunter's guild. They're a gang—"

Frowning, I changed the channel and saw a reporter interviewing Ogden Morrow on satellite TV.

"— Ogden joined us from his home in Oregon. Thank you, Mr. Moreau!"

"Okay," Morrow said.Although speaking to the media for the first time in six years, he does not seem to have changed a bit.His gray hair and beard make him look like a cross between Einstein and Santa Claus. Oh, not only his appearance, but also his personality.

The reporter cleared his throat, visibly nervous, "Let's start with what happened in the last 24 hours. Are you surprised?"

"Surprise? Yes, a little bit, I think. But it's more of a 'surprise'. Like everyone else, I've been expecting this to happen. In fact, I didn't think I would die waiting for this to happen." One day. But it happened! I'm so happy. Isn't it a surprise?"

"Do you think the two hunters, Parsifal and Artemis, are together?"

"I don't know, maybe."

"As far as I know, GSS implements strict confidentiality measures for all "Oasis" users' information, so we have no way of knowing their real identities. Do you think they will take the initiative to expose them to the media?"

"Not if they're smart." Moreau blinked. "If I were them, I'd keep it as secret as possible."

"why?"

"As long as people find out who they really are, they won't have a moment's peace. If people think you can help them find Halliday's treasure, they won't let you go. Believe me, I feel personally for this experience."

"Yes, I think so too." The reporter squeezed a smirk, "But we have contacted Parsifal and Artemis by email, hoping to invite them to participate in an interview with a high price, in the oasis and in the real world. once."

"I think they've had a lot of offers like that, but I doubt they'll take them up," Moreau said, looking into the camera, and I felt he was speaking to me. Danger."

The reporter smiled uneasily. "Ah, Mr. Moreau, I don't think that's your suggestion."

Moreau shrugged, "Unfortunately, that's exactly what I suggested."

The reporter cleared his throat again, "Uh, now, do you have any predictions for the new changes in the standings?"

"I bet the other eight slots will be filled soon."

"why?"

"It's not difficult to keep a secret alone, but it's easy for two people to leak the news." He replied, looking at the camera again, "I don't know, maybe I'm wrong. But one thing is certain, and that is that the 'Sixth Man' will Use all dastardly tricks to get the brass key and any information about the first door."

"Are you talking about IOI employees?"

"Yes, IOI, the 'Sixth Man'. They want to exploit a loophole in the rules of the game and claim James' [71] legacy. The Oasis is in jeopardy, and the last thing James wants, is the Oasis in the hands of fascist bastards like IOI."

"Mr. Moreau, IOI is our boss—"

"Of course!" exclaimed Morrow gloatingly, "They bought everything! Including you, boy! I mean, did they put a barcode on your ass before they hired you to come here and brag for them ?”

The reporter stuttered, and he looked out of the camera nervously.

"Before I say anything worse," Moreau said, "you'd better turn off the camera." He let out a burst of laughter before the scene cut.

The reporter took a few seconds to reorganize the language: "Thank you very much Mr. Moreau for participating, but unfortunately time is limited. Let's go back to the host. She and some Halliday scholars have been preparing for a long time-"

I laughed and turned off the news while pondering the old man's advice.I have always suspected that Moreau knew much more than he let on.

Morrow and Halliday are a pair of childhood, they start a company together, and change the world together.But Morrow's life was very different from Halliday's - he was more close to the people and more troubled.

(End of this chapter)